Meet the Party: Edge of the Empire Colonists

Not every criminal on the Edge of the Empire finds the big score and retires to a life of luxury or ascends to lordship of the criminal underworld. Sometimes the jobs go badly, the debts pile up, and the unwanted attention becomes too much. When that happens, it might be time to see how life on the right side of the law treats you.

Each Meet the Party article gives you an entire group of ready-to-play adventurers (maybe even some heroes) for your gaming needs for a variety of systems and settings. We’re going back to a galaxy far, far away to Meet [a] Party of criminals-turned-Colonists for Edge of the Empire from Fantasy Flight Games!

As Edge of the Empire has aged it has come out with a number of supplemental books, many of which focus on a single career, Edge’s equivalent of a class. These career books often focus not just on presenting new specializations and gear for those careers but on ways to more fully involve the career in the campaign, up to and including running a campaign with a party made up of a single career!

Far Horizons is the book that focuses on the Colonist career, and it provides all sorts of new and interesting things for your campaign. This iteration of Meet the Party focuses on running a campaign with an entire party of Colonists, with the added twist that each has purchased a non-career specialization that hints at a more . . . illegitimate past.

Someone needs to be able to cover up the group’s collective nefarious past and make things look aboveboard, and Rana Vookto is the Duros for the job. Her Deception and knowledge of the Core Worlds keep her ahead of those trying to track the crew down, with the knowledge also providing some valuable business information. Sitting behind a desk hasn’t made her forget what it’s like to be a smuggling pilot, either.

Nachkt has turned the focus of his hunt towards making profits, and he has the skills to make a good start. Sound Investments means he brings in money every session, and he’s the best negotiator the group has. He is still a Trandoshan, however, and he’s lost none of his skill with a blade. Anyone who tries to cheat him is likely to regret it very quickly.

Maintaining security for the group falls to Vonar Athan, the only member of the group who people expect to carry a weapon. He’s not just a sharp-eyed sharpshooter, however. Good Cop and Bad Cop make him extremely skilled at backing up others during social encounters using pretty much every relevant skill. His time as a bounty hunter makes efforts to take him out much more likely to fail, as he is both deadlier and harder to pin down than normal security officers.

‘Smartest in the group’ easily falls to Tokrin Triblin. He’s a studious little Drall, able to dredge up all sorts of knowledge for the group to use, but his two trades are what make him really valuable. Whether he’s up to his elbows in a computer system or another sentient being he’s the best the group could ask for.

Each character starts with 10 Obligation and then purchases up from there. Unlike the crew of the Dealmaker and certain Rebel scum this group isn’t restricted to a core rulebook. Vonar and Nachkt take their Obligations from Dangerous Covenants, while Rana takes her’s from Fly Casual. Motivations, a number of items, and the Entrepreneur and Marshal specializations come from Far Horizons, while Vonar got his innocuous-looking catch vest from Suns of Fortune.

The Base of Operations

Colonists intending to star in a Colonist-centric campaign of Edge of the Empire are given a few extra narrative options in Far Horizons. By their nature Colonists are often looking for stability of one kind or another and some way to settle down, and their successful efforts can be represented by the new Base of Operations Obligation. It can cost a significant amount of credits along with the Obligation to acquire a Base of Operations. However, if the party forgoes a ship they can start with a Base of Operations free of charge. Once they have a Base they can then spend credits or take on Obligation to improve it. Broadly speaking there are two types of Base, a Homestead or a Business, and for the purposes of this party they have chosen the space station version of a Homestead.

However, having a Base of Operations is not necessary to play the above characters, nor should any of the choices made below be seen as set in duracrete. If the players would rather wander the galaxy in a ship, or tweak the details of the base presented here, feel free! The following is provided as an example to show how a Base of Operations can function and how it might enhance a Colonist-centric campaign.

Astrogation Glitch Station

A small commercial space station, this type of Homestead starts off making profits by selling supplies, repairs, and perhaps some recreation or entertainment to passing ships. It starts off with a small hangar bay and quarters for the crew, accommodations for ten visitors, and two docking tubes for connecting with visiting ships. There are also NPC employees in equal number to the party members. The Astrogation Glitch has the following upgrades, which result in Obligation: Base of Operations 10.

Increase Core Focus (2 Obligation)

NPC Ally – Mechanic (1 Obligation)

Infirmary (3 Obligation)

Mechanic’s Garage (3 Obligation)

Landing Bay (1 Obligation)

Increase Core Focus means that the general size and quality of the station and it’s services has expanded, netting each character 100 credits every month. The Landing Bay provides internal (and pressurized) docking for visiting ships, while the Mechanic’s Garage offers repair facilities for the NPC Ally to use. The Infirmary provides Tokrin with expanded facilities, as well as another service that the station can provide.

An important note is that Base of Operations Obligation is group Obligation instead of being assigned to a single character. This means that the entire party has a stake in the Base, but also means that when the Obligation triggers that the entire party feels the effects.

To represent the profits of running the station, aside from the credits acquired through Increase Core Focus, the GM might want to look at Table 3-6 in Far Horizons, “Colonist Pay Scale”. Exactly how much each character might earn for a given job or specific task could vary greatly, but the table provides a good foundation for judging how much the party might be earning.

As to where in the galaxy the Glitch is located? Well, that’s up to the players (or the GM).

Who They Are

Rana Vookto learned the hard way that being a famous smuggler is not actually a good thing. Customs officials always seemed to show up at the wrong time, and the more cautious (and generous) customers started giving her a wide berth. Scoring the big one slowly became a dream that seemed impossible. So Rana decided to change the dream. If she went legit and got in on the ground floor of something big, she just might build something worth living for. As it so happened, she knew of a few others who might want to leave the criminal lifestyle behind.

Nachkt was well on his way to becoming a great hunter when a job put him up against Black Sun. He emerged victorious, but Black Sun has a long memory, especially when the son of a Vigo gets killed in a melee. When Rana made him an offer the Trandoshan saw it as his best chance to get away from the constant harassment and attacks. A hunter who dies young, after all, is looked upon with scorn by the Scorekeeper. If Nachkt can make something of this arrangement then he just might make more of a name for himself than he ever could have before getting blasted down in an alley somewhere.

Vonar Athan was making a good living in the bounty hunting business until That One Job. A particularly heinous killer that even the Empire wanted dead didn’t just manage to elude him; the monster blew up the passenger liner he’d been on as he made his escape, and then dedicated his next few kills to Vonar. The Arcona hunter was disgraced; even if Vonar had been offered more contracts, he would’ve been too ashamed to take them. Rana had given him a ride a few times in the past, so when she offered him a job and something to protect he jumped at the chance. Still, he keeps an eye out for the one that got away . . .

Tokrin Triblin is as smart and knowledge-hungry as any Drall, and he found dancing through security systems an easy affair. You don’t get high-end slicer gear in your bag or bounty hunters off of your back without credits, however, and Tokrin found himself indebted to a number of loan sharks very quickly. Eventually he grew tired of seeing all his earnings vanish into someone else’s pocket and decided to diversify. Providing medical services (legal or otherwise) should go a long way towards padding the wallet.

How They Interact

Rana feels like she has the most shared sorrow with Nachkt, as they both got in over their heads in a big way. Both share duties as the most public faces of the group, and she considers the Trandoshan her partner in… legitimate business… she supposes. Vonar’s a good sort, and it’s a damn shame how things went for him, but the way he’s taken his failure actually makes Rana trust him more. She’s a little creeped out by how stealthy the Arcona can be sometimes, but she knows he has the group’s back. Tokrin is a scheming little rodent, and a little too willing to slip back into old habits; while the group sold most of their old gear to fund their new lives, the Drall’s continued possession of his slicing gear is a sticking point.

Nachkt views Rana as something of a mentor; Scorekeeper knows that the former marauder never tried solving things with words before joining up with the Duros on this most legitimate of schemes. The Trandoshan is actually a little envious of Vonar’s ability to still be a somewhat traditional hunter in his new life. He understands the Arcona’s desire to one day find his quarry, though, and Nachkt keeps a careful watch for any hints that could let Vonar reap the points he’s owed. Nachkt and Tokrin both have much in common and very little in common. Both wish to see the group become successful, usually translating to the acquisition of profits. Nachkt sees those credits as a means to an end, but the Drall seems to view profit as an end unto itself.

Vonar is grateful to Rana for offering him this opportunity, but has to struggle with resentment of the fact that he needed the offering in the first place. He does everything he can to back her up, but sometimes he longs for the old life. Nachkt is an interesting character; there was a time when Vonar would have been sizing him up and judging the risk of bringing the Trandoshan in for a reward. Watching the entrepreneur’s back is at least an amusing irony. Tokrin’s clinginess when it comes to the tools of his old trade is a security risk, but Vonar has a tendency to overlook it. The Arcona actually hopes that someday he’ll be able to use the Drall’s slicing skills to find the one that got away.

Tokrin actually has very little respect for Rana, despite outward friendliness. The Duros has shed her old life a little too easily, and the idea of giving up on the profits of illegitimate cargo is anathema to the money-hungry Drall. Still, the Boss Lady is the Boss Lady. Nachkt at least seems to know the value of a credit, but the former marauder’s idea of using that money to build a legacy worthy of his ‘Scorekeeper’ makes little sense to Tokrin. Vonar, at least, knows the value of taking care of unfinished business. Tokrin will see his debts wiped clean and his wealth explode, while the ex-hunter aims to see his honor restored. That sort of determination is to be respected.

The Future

The group of former criminals turned into respectable citizens stands a real chance at making something for themselves, thanks to their talents and skills. Despite that, the specters of their past still lurk in the background. Will Rana, Nachkt, Vonar, and Tokrin be able to go legit and stay that way? Will their future run afoul of their past misdeeds? Will they slip back into bad habits and old lifestyles? That’s for you (and your dice) to determine!